1966 / Wood and metal / 60.96 cm / Artist: J. Elizalde Navarro / Ateneo Art Gallery Collection

Elizalde Navarro’s assemblages of found objects and metal parts—for example, wheels, cogs, and screws—provided a model for many sculptural works of the 1960s.

An outstanding work is his Homage to Dodgie Laurel, the subject being a car racing champion who lost his life in an international sports event. Supported by a single metal rod, the sculpture consists of a headlike form carved in wood and encased by a helmet. In place of the human features is a central hollow in the carved wooden form containing a mechanism with a lever and spring, suggesting the potential for movement. The basic simplicity of the form, with the mechanism as its central feature, conveys an intensity of concentration and a mechanical precision beyond ordinary human requirements, qualities essential to the dangerous high-velocity sport of Grand Prix-formula car racing. There is a notable contrast in medium between the impersonal and symmetrical metal form of the helmet and the brown and organic wooden shape with its veins suggesting living warmth.

In his works Elizalde Navarro has shown a fascination with mechanical forms, on the one hand, and human shapes, particularly “primitive” masks, on the other hand. Another artistic concern is the interplay of figure and space by the use of metal rods and pipes that create linear patterns rather than solid masses.